The best hampers are your easiest gifting hack in 2026
Unrealistic though it may be, the absolute best hampers are the ones that you compile yourself using their favourite alcohol, savoury and sweet snacks. That’s rather a lot of effort though, isn’t it? Good thing that there are myriad brands putting hampers together for you to make the best gifts for her and the best gifts for him that much easier to discern.
Featured in this article
A tradition dating back centuries, the wicker hamper filled with sweet treats and savoury nibbles has become one of the most-loved gifting hacks, whether you’re searching for something special for your dad or want to land something impressive for your girlfriend. Today, there are hampers dedicated to grooming and beauty, spa products and even books, though the majority — and our favourites — concern food and drink from charcuterie and stilton to lobster tails and fizz. With so much on offer, it’s no wonder this is one of our editors’ favourite gifting hacks.
Shop the best hampers to gift in 2026…
Best overall hampers
No one is sure why a hamper came to mean what it now does. Most historians agree that the Latin hanaparium predated it, and that it referred to a case containing a goblet. What the goblet represents, we still don't know, but if you want to imitate this ancient practice, then I recommend the ‘goblet’ in question contains wine, or champagne, or perchance even a delightfully-scented body cream.
Best luxury hampers
There's something distinctly luxurious about almost every hamper, what with the stately wicker, meticulous packing and frivolous product picks (no one needs a jar of chilli jam, after all). Still, certain choices are more opulent than others: combos that feature champagne, for example, or compilations of your favourite expensive cosmetics brand. What's more, buying these bits and pieces as part of a hamper usually saves you money on the whole, meaning you're paying less while they get more.
Best build-your-own hampers
Building your own hamper without the help of an expert boutique is not as simple as it may sound. Having to source and neatly pack a wicker basket with everything they like best can take some serious time and — what with all those different order costs — money. Instead, you should choose a place which already carries everything they might like, and have that place assemble everything for you. Fortnum & Mason is best known for this, but if you want to try more independent brands then head to Guzzl, and if you want a mix of food and extras (picnic blanket, champagne coupes etc.) then it's Not Another Bill that you'll need.
Fortnum & Mason
Build Your Own Hamper
Did you know that you can build your own hamper from Fortnum & Mason in person? If you live within Tube, train or, one presumes, private helicopter distance from the Piccadilly flagship, you can participate in the world's fanciest supermarket sweep, accompanying a red coat around three floors and filling a trolley with all the food, booze, candles, decorations and pottery your heart (or your giftee's) could desire.
Not Another Bill
Build Your Own Hamper
Leave it to Not Another Bill to compile your very own edit of fine cheeses, preserves, chocolates, linen napkins and champagnes (in a magnum if you prefer). You can also choose and personalise the packaging it goes in, making this one of my favourite bespoke hamper experiences, and one with some of the most unusual options. Chilli pepper-decorated glass tumbler, anyone?
Best under-£100 hampers
You'll find that most of the hampers on this list come in at under £100, but a handful are particularly reasonable for their price. Fortnum & Mason, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Selfridges and every other hamper distributor you can think of has great options for fewer than 100 of your English pounds, and so do some lesser-known brands that provide just as much oomph with their carefully chosen products.
LookFantastic
Beauty Box
As one of our favourite spots for beauty and grooming products, it's little surprise that LookFantastic also creates a really excellent subscription service. For £13 per month (or £15 if you buy just one), you or your giftee gets an edit of current beauty insider favourites. Spectacular value for money.
Best cheese hampers
If you know a cheesehound then you'll know that almost any cheese will do, but come special occasions, they deserve much more than whatever the corner shop stocks when they need their fix. Brands like the Fine Cheese Co. even hire in-house cheesemongers to help select the best hard, soft and blue cheeses to go into its hampers and subscription services. Best when presented alongside crackers, condiments and — inevitably — booze.
Best wine hampers
When giving a hamper that contains a bottle of wine, everybody knows that the booze is the centrepiece, but it's still well worth the extra to make things that little bit more special. No one is ever going to pooh-pooh a smorgasbord of chocolates and biscuits alongside their vino, plus you'll look far more generous and original for presenting a hamper instead of a solitary bottle.
Best afternoon tea hampers
Heading out for elevenses afternoon tea at a local five-star hotel might not be on the cards for most of us, but that doesn't have to mean missing out on scones with cream and jam. Since it's one of the most common hamper themes out there, you'll find a curious amount of diversity among them, from the traditional, to the cake-stuffed letterbox kind, to those with a champagne and biscuit focus.
Cutter & Squidge
Afternoon Tea At Home
Always fresh, with every individual element tip-top, the Cutter & Squidge afternoon tea is the team's favourite post-delivered afternoon tea. This one includes the typical scones with jam and cream plus tea, but also features the bakery's famous brownies and lemon drizzle cakes.
Best vegan/vegetarian hampers
Being vegetarian or vegan isn't all mediocre imitation meat and tired conversations about your motivations. Sometimes you get to stuff your face without consequence, and those chances are becoming more and more frequent what with brands like Imp & Maker, Virginia Hayward and even M&S creating bundles of animal product-free delights.
Cutter & Squidge
Luxury Vegan Hamper
A bakery can only be great if it can excel at its vegan treats, and Cutter & Squidge certainly does. This sweet and savoury compilation stars tea plus cookie bites, brownies and other sweet treats, as well as sweet chilli nuts and spiced tomato chutney with crackers.
How we chose the best hampers
Like with all of the other gift guides on GQ (a list of which you can see below), this rundown of the best hampers is curated by Jessie Atkinson, who has been working as a Senior Commerce Writer for the site for the past two years. With previous experience as a music editor and a lifestyle writer — as well as a lifetime's appreciation for the finer things — Jessie has a keen eye for gifts worth your money. She or one of her colleagues (including Senior Commerce Editor Robert Leedham and Senior Commerce Writer Daphne Bugler) has tested several of the hampers on this list, though where that hasn't been possible, she has prioritised prestigious brands she's worked with before, products she's interacted with at launch events and/or hampers with very positive customer feedback.
Why is a hamper called a hamper?
As with most English etymology, the origins of the word ‘hamper’ go back centuries, probably to the Middle Ages, when the Latin word hanaparium referred to a case containing a large goblet. We can only speculate as to the reason for the importance of said cup, but the term for the compartment that carried it soon went into use in Anglo-French as hanaper. There is speculation that the word ‘hamper’, in the sense that we know it now (a place to house fancy cheeses and wines), could also have descended from the verb to hampren, which refers to the act of surrounding, imprisoning, confining… or packing into a container. Every day is a school day here at GQ.
What hamper should I buy as a present?
Every hamper featured in this guide has been selected by our writers and editors, and — though we don’t tend to blow our own horn often — we have pretty great taste. What does that mean? Well, that every hamper featured here is well worth the spend. From cheese and beer to champagne and oysters, hand wash and hand cream to cakes and biscuits, everything here is well and truly GQ approved. That means we think that all of the hampers listed here are worth the dough.
If you want to drill down on a specific brand we think you’ll want to go to again and again, we recommend Fortnum & Mason for building your own spectaculars, Cutter & Squidge for fresh baked goods and Fine Cheese Co. for fine dairy paired with crackers and wine.
MORE GIFT GUIDES…
Best gifts for her | Best gifts for him | Best gifts for mums | Best gifts for dads | Best high-End Gifts | Best gifts for girlfriends | Best gifts for boyfriends | Best gifts for friends | Best gifts for wives | Best gifts for husbands | Best gifts for sisters | Best gifts for brothers | Best gifts for teens | Best food gifts | Best subscription gifts | Best Mother's Day gifts
